Wednesday, May 27, 2015

I haven´t had the time to read or test the rules yet, but the production value for the book are exelent, hardback and lots of inspirational pictures both photos and drawings, first impression are good:)

Seems like the rules are for small warband with a Wizard as main character and his loyal followers, less then 10 minis needed.

It all are sett in the frozen City of Felstad. I like the ideea of a medieval winter setting...like my Baltic Crusade project...might use some of those minis as Followers in the first test games... in wait for the official Frostgrave plastic minis by North Star.

Plastic box set with 20 multipart figures from NorthStar

I will ofcourse try to put together a full review of the rules but please give me a couple of weeks to read and testplay.

Monday, May 25, 2015

At my painting table I at the moment have some Scanian Guerrillas year 1676 more common known as Snapphanar...

I hade them from a box of Warlord Dragoons and Horese holders, they will be fielded in groups of 6 minis and also be used as Dragoons in TYW gaming.

Back to the Snapphane´s; A snapphane was a member of a 17th-century pro-Danish guerrilla organization that fought against the Swedes in the Second Northern and Scanian Wars, primarily in the former eastern Danish provinces which in the course of these wars became southern Sweden. Many pro-Danish guerrilla fighters referred to themselves as friskyttar, ei volunteer militiamen.

The term snapphane, which was used as a pejorative term by the Swedes to describe the pro-Danish rebels, was originally a word for gangs of bandits that lived in the woods. When Scanian exiled peasants were organized by the Danish king into bands that fought the Swedes with guerrilla methods, they were called Snapphane too.

Due to the movement's support of the Danish invasion during the Scanian War, Swedish authorities fought the snapphanes brutally, and if one was captured, he was usually executed and the corpse was impaled and shown where the locals could see it and be intimidated to obedience. Another common method was execution by having them broken on the wheel. The Snapphanes were initially rather successful, but as the war turned against Denmark the Snapphane war became more devastating.

The Snapphanes were defeated mostly by a Swedish campaign of compelling Scanian peasants swear allegiance to the Swedish king, effectively driving a wedge between Snapphane and most of the population. Instructed by the Danish king to kill loyalists the Snapphane bands turned on the local population undermining support for the Danish king.

A ruthless Swedification policy was reportedly so effective that when a Danish invasion army landed in 1709, in the wake of the Battle of Poltava, the local population was raised in a militia to fight against them. The last suspected snapphane, Nils Tuasen‚ was executed in 1700 for slaying a Swedish soldier in 1677. He had allegedly spent 22 years in exile in Denmark but ultimately returned, upon which he was arrested and put to death.

Friday, May 22, 2015

At last have I painted the needed 23 minis for my Dalecarlian Regiment, 1st Batalion, 3rd Company The Gagnef Company, so its now 36 minis in the company for deployment during the Scanian War 1675-1676.

Sunday, May 17, 2015

Yesterday I, Jesper and Sören was to Lincon 2015 a gaming convention in Linköping, Sweden, running av participation game of the Battle at Holowczyn 1708, a part of the Swedish war agains Russa during the Greate Norther War. We also sold Warfare Miniatures, especially the ones from their new GNW range, lovely minis:)

Historical Recap

The Battle of Holowczyn or Holofzin or Golovchin was fought between the Russian army, led by Field Marshal Boris Sheremetyev, and the Swedish army, led by Charles XII of Sweden, only 26 years of age at the time. Despite difficult natural obstacles and superior enemy artillery, the Swedes were able to achieve surprise and defeat the numerically superior Russian forces. Reportedly it was Charles' favorite victory

After dealing with Saxony-Poland, Charles was ready to take on his remaining enemy in the Great Northern War: Russia. The best route into the Russian heartland was along the continental divide from Grodno to Minsk and Smolensk. From there, Moscow could be reached without having to cross any major rivers. Charles chose instead a straighter – but more difficult – route, over the Berezina and Drut rivers. The army was moved from its winter camp near Radoszkowice in June 1708; the movement was plagued by poor road conditions and weather.

The unexpected choice of route made the Russians unsure of the Swedish intentions. In addition, with Peter I of Russia away the Field Marshal Boris Sheremetyev had to contend with the rivalry of Aleksander Menshikov. After a council of war, it was decided to draw the Russian defence line by the Dnieper River. In June and July the army was moved piecemeal towards Vabich, a marshy tributary of the Drut river.

The main force of the Russian army was deployed around the village of Vasilki, east and across the Vabich from Holowczyn. The bridges across Vabich were fortified and defended with artillery. To the south, General Anikita Repnin deployed his force and fortified his position three kilometers to the southeast. Between the two fortified camps lay marshy territory that could not be fortified.

The Swedes had observed the Russian deployment along the Vabich. Starting on 30 June, Swedish regiments started bivouacking on the heights west of Holowczyn. Charles and his followers noticed the gap in the fortifications, and decided on a plan of attack. Crossing the marshy area between the two Russian camps would not only be an unsuspected move, but would also serve to divide the enemy force in two. To ensure success, the attack was to be carried out in the darkness of night.

At midnight on 4 July the Swedes started moving quietly towards the river. Infantry carried fascines to help them traverse the waterlogged ground before crossing the Vabich on leather pontoon bridges. However, heavy rainfall made the pontoons too heavy to carry; they were left behind. At 02:30 the Russian alarm was raised as Swedish artillery started bombarding the opposite river bank. Swedish success would depend on how many troops could cross the river without the aid of pontoons before the enemy forces could arrive. Charles as so often led the charge personally, by wading across the water in front of his men. After forming with difficulty on the boggy far bank, the Swedes began to advance through the marsh. Meanwhile, fascines were laid on the river banks to assist the cavalry's crossing. Both the engineers and the Swedish vanguard began to be targeted by Repnin's artillery.

General Repnin soon saw the danger of a Swedish wedge forming between the two Russian positions, and ordered his men to decamp and head north toward Sheremetyev. Five Swedish battalions fought hard to prevent the Russian regiments from merging. Sheremetyev, hearing the sound of battle, dispatched reinforcements towards Repnin's position, but by that time enough Swedish forces had arrived to prevent these reinforcements from joining Repnin. The latter was forced to retire his forces eastwards and southwards. Swedish cavalry by now had followed the infantry across the river, and scattered their Russian counterparts towards the south.

At this point, Sheremetyev's forces were still waiting across the river from Holowczyn. They had been on full alert for hours, in the belief that the attack on Repnin was a feint and expecting the main Swedish attack to come from Holowczyn. Finally, Sheremetev took the initiative to attack the almost undefended Swedish camp to the west. However, when news of the Repnin's setback reached Sheremetev, he decided not to wait for a Swedish attack on his rear, but instead began retreating towards Shklov by the Dnieper.

The victory provided the Swedes with a defensive line along the Dnieper and the area around Mogilev could be used as a base of operations in their campaign against Russia. However, since so many of the Russian troops were able to escape it was not a decisive strategic victory.

Wednesday, May 13, 2015

Somehow I just got an urge to re-start some skirmish gaming during the Scanian War 1676, Swedes vs. Snapphanar (i.e. irregular Danish troops)...

So I built me some more of the Wargames Factory minis, that I of course will paint as the Darlecalian regiment. A soon as I painted them I plan to get on with some 24 Snapphanar using warlord TYW/ECW dragoons that I have had in the leadpile for some time.

Sunday, May 10, 2015

I´m a little off gaming and painting at the moment, Salute hangover I suppouse ;)

I found this new shortfilm "State Zero" showing Stockholm, the Swedish capital, after the Apocalypse. The Film are made by the talanted Andrée Wallin and is really good inspiration to re-start my Post-Apocalyptic project...

I hopa you like the film and be sure to visit Stockholm before the end;)